IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Republicans attack Obama EPA's proposed CO2 emissions standards... but they were FOR emissions cuts before they were against them; Good news for endangered wolves; PLUS: Los Angeles oil spill exposes gaping hole in pipeline oversight ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

John Eick, director of the ALEC Task Force on Energy, Environment and Agriculture, also sees a "good chance" that his group will issue model legislation on EPA's power plant rule after its annual meeting this summer. "I think it's very possible that we'll probably put together even more language specifically targeting this regulation," he said.

Company responsible for the spill didn't know its dormant pipeline was full of oil before it leaked across a Los Angeles neighborhood.
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When a company buys a pipeline that's already shut down, "there is no [federal] requirement that a third party verify whether that pipeline has been purged or properly cleaned out," Hahn said in a statement.

“There is no species more iconic in the American West than this one, the gray wolf,” said commission president Michael Sutton. “We owe it to them to do everything we can to help them recolonize their historic range in this state.”

Last year, a lone wolf became the first to enter California in nearly a century. Now, with his own Twitter feed and a new mate, he's kind of a big deal.
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As for allegations of political pressure, [Eric Loft, chief of the agency's wildlife and fisheries division] says: "Yes, we are being pressured by stakeholders that don't want to see wolves here. But that does not make us sway our recommendation.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

The world's leading industrialised nations gave their backing on Thursday to a new global deal on climate change in 2015 after promises from the United States at the start of the week galvanised flagging momentum.

In its report, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) said that the blowout preventer’s blind shear ram – an emergency hydraulic device with two sharp, powerful cutting blades – probably did activate on the night of April 20, contrary to the conclusions reached by some other investigations. But the device ended up puncturing the off-center pipe, sending huge volumes of oil and gas to the surface and triggering the massive oil spill, the CSB said.

I don't believe the United States — or the world — will do nearly enough, nearly fast enough, to hold the rise in temperatures to safe levels. I think we're fucked. Or, at the least, I think our grandchildren are fucked.

A retired, highly-decorated Special Forces officer and member of “SEAL Team 6? has conducted an alarming new security assessment of the vulnerabilities of a completed northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. His conclusion? It is shockingly easy for a small group of people with little or no training to attack the pipeline and cause an Exxon Valdez-sized spill into the heart of America, threatening drinking water for millions.

The companies had appealed Barbier’s ruling, arguing in part that they should not be responsible for oil spilled as a result of failed equipment on the drilling rig, which was owned by Transocean Ltd. But as co-owners of the well, BP and Anadarko would be on the hook for resulting fines, the appeals court ruled.

The main cause of the monarch butterfly's decline is the loss of milkweed — its food — in its U.S. breeding grounds, a new study has found. That all but confirms that the spread of genetically modified crops is indirectly killing the monarch.

China is just about the same size as the United States, but livable land is in short supply. With the population and economy still growing at a rapid clip, the government has undertaken a plan to bulldoze hundreds of mountains to create land for building on.

Australia has experienced its hottest two years on record and high temperatures are set to continue through winter in a clear sign of climate change, a report warns. May 2012 to April 2014 was the hottest 24-month period ever recorded in Australia, but that is likely to be eclipsed by the two years between June 2012 and May 2014, according to the Climate Commission's latest report, Abnormal Autumn.

Inspections by the safety agency found TransCanada wasn't using approved welding procedures to connect pipes, the letter said. The company had hired welders who weren't qualified to work on the project because TransCanada used improper procedures to test them, the letter said. In order to qualify to work on a pipeline, welders must have recent experience using approved welding procedures and pass a test of their work.

Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people's behavior.